Tuesdays with Story

Tuesdays with Story
September 20, 2019

The first word . . .

“Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere.”

― Anne Lamott (1954- ), novelist, nonfiction writer, writing teacher

Tuesday evening at the bookstore . . .

Eight writers gathered at Barnes and Noble and enjoyed meeting a guest illustrator, introduced by Amit. Jozi Anderson, UW student artist, is seeking commissions from writers for self-published books. She showed samples on her phone of a children’s book cover oil painting and interior illustrations. Members engaged in a lively discussion with her about effective and economical ways to produce art for prospective books. Tracey suggested Jozi place her work on the Behance site at https://www.behance.net/, where artists can display work and authors can find cover designers. If anyone is interested in discussing further projects, Jozi can be contacted at jozimanderson@gmail.com.

Here is Jozi’s contribution:

Hi, I’m Josephine, a local artist studying at the University of Wisconsin Madison. I recently had

the privilege of illustrating a children’s fantasy novel titled Flight of Maldar by a local author

named Sydney Myers. As the illustrator I worked with her to create a cover and small chapter

icons to bring her characters to life (I’ve provided an example of both). I think it’s a unique

experience to create art for authors because you’re trying to bring a story from their mind into

the visual world, and it’s something I’d be excited to do again. I’m comfortable with a wide

variety of mediums, from charcoal to oil paint to digital work, and if you’d like to see more of my art it can be found @jozi.anderson on instagram.

 

Four writers shared their work with the group. Here’s some of what was said:

 — Jack Freiburger (chapters, A Walk upon the Water): Not many comments.  Larry provided some edits and corrections, but few recommendation [sic] for changes.

— Jessica Smith (chapter, Holding the Balance): Unable to attend

— Kashmira Sheth and Amit Trivedi (chapters, untitled novel):

1. Have the old servant Babubhai describe Kedar’s appearance.
2. Uma is teaching in a language that is not familiar to students. How is that possible? Need to fix it.
3. Need to show Kedar’s reaction to Uma/s letter.
4. Bhai character at Dr. Kaka’s house seems out of place.
5. Explain ‘Sadhu’. It will add more to the story.

— Larry Sommers (chapter, Freedom’s Purchase): I presented three incommensurate but necessary chapters—a short one with Daniel conducting escapees to the Underground Railroad, a short one with Anders finalizing his own citizenship and helping Thor and Reier start theirs, and a long one describing Anders’ attendance at Lincoln and Douglas’s seventh and final debate, in Alton, Illinois. Tracey pointed out a number of POV problems, and short, choppy scenes. Jack suggested more could be done in Daniel’s chapter to make him into a more three-dimensional character. Both Cindy and Tracey had trouble with the way I described the younger women’s varied reactions to Kirsten Haraldsdatter’s attitude on the needlessness of citizenship for females, and there were some comments about Anders’ distant encounter with Crawley at the debate. All good comments and food for further thought. Thanks, everybody.

— Mike Austin (Lennie’s Moon): My short story, “Lenny’s Moon,” received some great suggestions and encouragement. John suggested getting rid of the first paragraph, and that’s already improved it. Tracey pointed out the “was” words, and now I’m seeing them everywhere! The discussion about passive vs active was really helpful. Everyone agreed that Guido as a deus ex machina didn’t really work, and that the boys should be more involved in bringing DJ to their frontier justice. I enjoyed all of the ideas for where the story might go. Thanks so much everyone!

Who’s up next . . .

October 1

Lisa McDougal (chapter, The Tebow Family Secret)

Cindi Dyke (???)

Jack Freiburger (chapters, A Walk upon the Water)

John Schneller (chapter, Broken rewrite)

Bob Kralapp (chapter, Capacity)

Melissa Zernick (???)

Jerry Peterson (???)

Jessica Smith (chapter, Holding the Balance

Our editor . . .

Tracey finishes out September as editor. She will not make the October meetings as she will be in England. Next month, it’s John Schneller. Send John stories about writing you’d like him to share with the group in our first October issue.

Fifth Tuesday: To be held at Tracey and Scott’s home at W5317 Highland Drive on October 29^th. All plates, cutlery, cups, etc., will be provided, along with wine, beer and a pasta dish. Please bring sodas if you drink those.

Writing prompt: Not writing this time. An exercise to get to know one another better. Give an up-to-3-minute talk to the group about an area of specialized knowledge you possess. (Several members felt three minutes too long, so maximum time is three minutes.) Also give four facts or details about yourself, three of which are true and one false, or one true and three false, at each person’s option; we can then play the guessing game about them. NOTE:  It was decided that although the 3-minute presentation will be strictly oral, we will submit the true/false factoids to Jerry ahead of time, so they can be on paper and we will have that to look at as we play the game.

E.g.—

Jack Freiburger:

1. Was a member of the Royal Algerian Balloon Corps.
2. Has a dog named Spot.
3. Etc.
4. Etc.

Larry Sommers:

1. Etc.
2. Etc.

3.

4.

And so on….

 

Publishing your own book can pay off  . . .

Here are 3 famous books you may not have known started life as self-published books.

1. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter believed passionately The Tale of Peter Rabbit should be published in a format small enough for a child to hold. She couldn’t find a publisher who agreed with her. They wanted to publish something larger in order to charge more money for it.

In 1901, she used her savings to print 250 copies herself. It was a huge hit. Within a year, one of the publishers who originally turned her down signed a contract with her on her terms. Read the full story here.

2. The Martian by Andy Weir

Andy Weir’s The Martian started life on his blog. He published chapters anyone could read for free. He built up a fan base who clamored for an ebook version. He obliged and put the manuscript on Amazon for just $0.99.

The book raced to the top of Amazon’s best sellers charts and then debuted on the New York Times best seller list. The film adaptation starring Matt Damon was wildly successful. Read the full story here.

3. Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Lisa Genova’s Still Alice also started life as a self-published book. She promoted and marketed the book, building buzz around her title. Ultimately, she sold the manuscript to Simon & Schuster for six-figures.

The story hit the silver screen starring Julianne Moore and Kristen Stewart. Read Lisa’s first-hand account here.

What do these authors have in common? ask writing coaches Dani and Steve Alcorn They worked hard to get a story they were passionate about into the hands of their readers on their own terms. Their audience took care of the rest.

The last word . . .

“See, I know a little—just a little—about writing novels, and what I can tell you is that the process if just like moving from one home to the next. Your characters are your boxes… Your job is to take them from a familiar place where they feel they belong and get them to the truck.”

― Jason Reynolds (1983- ), author of YA novels and poetry